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Michael Elgin (2018)

143 Pts.



It was truly the blurst of times for Big Mike Elgin in New Japan in 2018. He kicked off the year in style by losing in the first leg of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship gauntlet match with his partners War Machine. Following that, Elgin entered the New Japan Cup, defeating Tomohiro Ishii in the first round before falling to Juice Robinson in the quarterfinals. Elgin then teamed with Togi Makabe and Ryusuke Taguchi to challenge for the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Titles again at Sakura Genesis, but he lost that match too.

Returning to New Japan in the summer with a slimmed down look, it seemed like Elgin’s fortunes were turning around when he defeated Hirooki Goto and Taichi in a three-way dance at Dominion to win the NEVER Openweight Championship. It was his first taste of singles gold since losing the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Tetsuya Naito back in 2016. Surely this win would be a fresh start for Elgin who had been spinning his wheels in the company for months.

It wasn’t… and don’t call me Shirley. Elgin lost the belt right back to Goto at Kizuna Road in Korakuen Hall, a mere eight days after winning it at Dominion. This gave Elgin the shortest NEVER Openweight Championship reign of all time, beating the previous record of 10 days held by EVIL. Next came the G1 Climax, Elgin’s fourth year in the tournament and also his worst. He only scored six points, the fewest he’s scored in any of his G1 appearances.

Elgin’s last gasp for glory was World Tag League when he teamed up again with Jeff Cobb (a.k.a Team Awkward, or “Steroid Tag,” according to a translation of New Japan’s Japanese Twitter) to earn a spot on the Wrestle Kingdom 13 card. Elgin and Cobb lost their first three matches, but then went on a tear, winning the next eight in a row. A loss to Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi on the final night of block play stopped them from getting to the finals. And that was Michael Elgin’s 2018.